Engine break-in as per 2005 EU owner's manual
 

Just received my owner's manual on a CD from Porsche (still waiting for the car itself :) ) and found the following on page 12:

"Tips for running in:
The following tips will be helpful in obtaining optimum performance from your new Porsche.
Despite the most modern, high-precision manufacturing methods, the "wearing in" of moving parts with each other cannot be completely avoided. This wearing occurs mainly in the first 3,000 km (1,865 miles).
During the first 3,000 km (1,865 miles) you should:
- preferably take longer trips
- avoid frequent cold start with short-distance driving whenever possible
- Not participate in motor racing events, sports driving schools or similar.
- Avoid high engine speeds, especially when the engine is cool."

That's all folks... Nothing about 4200RPM or other scary stuff... I was a little bit afraid as I would not be able to keep the rules posted here earlier :D

Not every car on the lot has been test-driven. I had been talking to one dealer in Ohio who was offering 11% discount on an '05 987S with 11 miles on it. I've heard that anything under 35 miles or so is acceptable.

MY04 manual says keep it under 4200rpm for the first 1-2K miles.

Yeah but my manual is for the _987_ (model year 2005, issued in May 2005) and I recognized it as a major change - and happy to learn that I won't have to restrict myself with my new S... Anyway, I would rather consider the 4200RPM limit as something for the driver and not the engine to break in / get used to :) As a summer weekend car, it would take me months to get past the first few thousand miles.

the moto man website break in procedure seems like bad advice although varying your rpm and loads is accepted. Most harley techs won't use synthetic during break in so moto man's suggestion sounds familiar. but he leaves out the whole valve train from the break in equation. Race engines may get broken in this way but they are run for short lives before they get a rebuild. IMO

2005 Boxster 987. Page 14 says "Do not exceed maximum engine speed of 4,200 rpm.

I bought the car I took a test drive in because it was the right colour and options and $10,000 off.

The salesman beat the $h!t out of it on a test drive and then encouraged me to do the same. It was sold as new with 172 miles on it. I'm sure now every one was hard.

The car drinks oil like a pig: half a quart of synthetic in 300 miles--are you ************************ kidding me? My eleven year old Ford exploder with 165,000 miles on it doesn't drink nary a drop!

I asked about break in and he told me not to run it to redline too often in the first 1,000 miles. Naturally I drove it like ......................... for a couple hundred miles and THEN read the book myself.

Good grief. :ah:

Don't redline it too often? That salesman was an idiot.

You should tell the service manager that the salesman said this so he can get him fired over it.

Every redline is recorded in the OBC and cannot be cleared or erased. It's one of the things Porsche does to prove owner negligence when they refuse to pay for new motors, even when the motor is faulty, not the driver or owner of the car.

I think I will be asking for a OBC printout even if I buy a brand new Porsche in the future, just to have a record of what's been going on with the engine before I purchased it and what may exclude me from full warranty paid repairs in the future.

sound like you have the notorious RMS leak. Did you notice a puddle under the car after its been sitting for a while?

This ain't bad
 

I'm up to about 400 miles in my break in and I've been varying the rpms mostly staying under 3K. Soon I'll start increasing the rev range keeping under the 4.2K. But I got to say this is not that bad. This car is quick even in this range. Better than I expected. When I get her broken in this is going to be sweet. Meanwhile this is like foreplay.

off topic: saw the BMW M4 on the news - I think they said power's up to 325bhp